"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."-Carl Jung
A/N: I own nothing but my character and I greatly appreciate reviews and suggestions on where to take this story.
She was in the Gryffindor common room, holding a teacup in her small hand. She gazed into the fireplace, relishing in the warmth it gave. It was only her second day at Hogwarts and as much as she loved the place, she was wishing she were finished with it. Ever since the Sorting, it seemed that everyone in the entire school was shunning her very existence. Not that it was much of a change from her life before Hogwarts. She had grown accustomed to the seething looks, the stares, and the whispers. She had no friends her own age and the only ones she did have were those older witches and wizards who had looked after her growing up. She longed for a different life, a life where she could blend in. But unfortunately her history was evident in her appearance and her tarnished surname.
As she sat in the cozy common room, all she really wished for was one person to look in her direction. She needed someone to hold her teacup so she could practice Transfiguration. She had successfully executed the spell twice before, but each time she had to spend ten minutes chasing down the mouse she had transfigured her teacup in to. Her inquisitive gray eyes searched the common room and saw a group of fourth year girls, giggling over the handsome wizard featured in the latest issue of some magazine. Clearly, they would be no help. In the chair next to hers was a seventh year boy reading a catalog of the newest and fastest brooms and she new he was avoiding her gaze-also no good. Then, as she sighed in defeat, she spotted him. He was sitting in the corner directly across from her chair with his brow furrowed in concentration. He was staring at a piece of parchment, his eyes glazed over. She watched as he ran a hand through his red hair and smiled. Charlie Weasley and his older brother had been the only two people at the Gryffindor table to smile when she had sat down after her Sorting. Without another thought she walked over and peeked over the parchment.
"Hi," she startled him and he nearly fell out of his chair.
"Hi," he responded after gaining his balance.
"Will you help me with my Transfiguration homework? Everyone else seems a bit busy," she opened her eyes wide and stared directly into his, hoping against hope she could somehow find a friend in this good-natured face. He looked at her for a moment, a curious look in his eyes.
"And what makes you think I am not busy?" he asked in a very serious tone.
She looked at him point blank for a moment and then they both burst into a fit of laughter. He smiled warmly at her and laid the parchment down, "Sure," he said genuinely.
Her eyes lit up and she handed him the teacup excitedly, "Thank you. All you have to do is hold that," she told him quickly.
She did her spell and Charlie looked quite surprised to be holding a mouse instead of a teacup. "I've been chasing them down for about half an hour now. I didn't want this one to get away," she told him while taking her mouse back, "Now, is there anything I can do for you?"
He looked at her for a moment and she took it as a no, but as she turned and walked away he called to her, "Talitha? How are you at Potions?" And Talitha smiled and ran back to Charlie Weasley, helping him make sense of the essay he was assigned.
Talitha Weasley wiped a tear from her cheek as she remembered the day she had met her husband. She had known he was a kind-hearted person. When he had smiled at her at the Sorting she had been thankful for the encouragement and figured that would be it. He was, after all, a third year. But after that night in the common room, Charlie had befriended her when everyone else shunned her. He was the kindest person she had ever known. He never judged her because of her last name or because of her past, he was just there for her. He was just simply her friend. She let out a sob as she thought of his handsome, good-natured face when it was thirteen years old. After their first conversation, she had instantly been smitten with him. In her eleven years, she had never known a more handsome boy.
Talitha had been somewhat of a bookworm in her younger days. Being an orphan with a last name that had been tarnished and a family associated with atrocious acts, she had been looked after and cared for by a menagerie of kind witches and wizards. She had never been around people her own age and much preferred the company of her older caretakers who taught her a lot about magic. She was very advanced for her age and had been studying books full of spells, potions, curses and history for as long as she could remember. She had really no desire to be around other witches and wizards of her age, for she knew she was already far more advanced than they. Charlie had changed that, though. He knew things she did not and she was a great tutor to him in those subjects he never really could master. It also helped that by the third week of her first year, her professors had recommended to the Headmaster she be allowed to skip ahead, for they knew they were only holding her back as a first year. Dumbledore, knowing fully of her abilities since he had helped foster them, wholeheartedly agreed to this. She had been moved to all of Charlie's classes and was now considered a third year student. She had been most elated, because this meant she could take more classes and be with Charlie throughout the day. This ultimately led to their close friendship. He had taken her to the Burrow over the Christmas holidays because he knew she had no family to be with. They were inseparable and were a great influence on each other. She had managed to explain Charlie's least favorite subject, Potions in a way he actually understood and he had given her a love for magical creatures and taught her to play Quidditch.
With that thought, she let out another sob. Her fondest memory of Charlie had happened after a Quidditch game…